The purpose of this study was to investigate innovative performance assessments developed by the instructor in an American Sign Language (ASL) course at an urban undergraduate university. The performance assessments engaged students in higher order thinking skills as they demonstrated their learning. Course purpose, instructional objectives,…

A standards-based exit policy was implemented in an urban district in the northwestern United States. This paper considers the second year of implementation with a group of 2,581 students in the fifth grade. Of these, 104 were identified as not having the skills to exit fifth grade. Reading achievement as measured by two tests, the Iowa Tests of…

The relationship between changes in the scores from Maryland's performance assessment program, the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) from 1993 to 1998 and classroom instruction and assessment practices, student learning and motivation, students' and teachers' beliefs about and attitudes towards the assessment, and school…

The effect of rapid feedback for a state writing assessment on subsequent writing performance was investigated. In addition, the agreement between teachers' scores for the state writing assessment and state department scores was analyzed. Eighth grade English teachers (n=8) were trained in analytic trait scoring of writing assessments. They then…

This study attempted to provide insight into the condition of one Mississippi school district that has engaged in a comprehensive effort toward instructional improvement centering around performance task instruction by examining how teaching with performance units affects several aspects of the instructional program. In the district studied, the…

This book presents a new method for English Language Arts teachers to assess student learning using authentic assessment techniques. It instructs on the implementation of the processes of Hypothesizing and Testing on a one-on-one basis, in order to better understand how children learn. Section 1 ("What Is the Hypothesis-Test Process?")…

This report describes a program that was implemented to improve student assessment through the use of portfolios. The targeted population consisted of a first and third grade classroom in a suburb of a large Midwestern metropolitan area. The problems related to assessment were documented by state mandated test scores, teacher determined grades,…

The paper examines an assessment method for measuring students' writing performance. Does Primary Trait Scoring reliably and validly accomplish the administrative, instructional, and evaluative purposes of the writing assessment? The Primary Trait Scoring guide has a few underlying principles: identification of qualities of effective writing;…

Focuses on improving grading efficiency and compatibility by using computer-aided evaluation that is especially useful for grading performance assignments in basic communication courses. (PA)

Reviews problems with the current movement to use national standards and performance assessment to reform education and the impact of the standards on students with disabilities. The characteristics of standards, as they are currently being employed, are discussed, along with issues related to measurement, reliability, and validity. (Author/CR)

Presents examples of how to implement and model authentic assessment for preservice teachers, describing the authentic assessment used in a preservice elementary mathematics methods course. The components of the assessment include reading and writing, examinations, discussions and observations, collection of students' work, and oral and visual…

Discusses President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act and addresses the flaws of the program. Addresses the program's focus on student assessments, relationship between assessment and accountability, and mandated assessments for public school. Also discusses how the program does not affect private and religious schools. (MZ)

This exploration of the implementation of a new career path for teachers in Australia, the Advanced Skills Teacher classification, shows conflicts between the industrial relations arena and teaching standards and performance assessments based on quality of teaching practice. Developing such career paths requires stable professional bodies that…

The Memphis Restructuring Initiative's first-year data-gathering efforts have yielded implications for policy and practice. This article discusses findings and implications in seven areas: opportunity to choose, goals and directions, professional development, "constructivist" teaching and learning, authentic assessment, disjunctures…

Education systems around the world have begun to describe student outcomes rather explicitly in terms of actual learning that students should exhibit. How system approaches to articulating and monitoring these outcomes function is explored with reference to British, Australian, Canadian, and U.S. (Kentucky, New York, and the New Standards Project)…